In Celebration of all Fathers, Grandfathers, Godfathers and Uncles, we wish you a day filled with love, family and music to brighten your spirits. The Ukrainian Art Song Project sends you this gift of love… ♪
Summer Evening ~ Літній вечір
by Mykola Lysenko
Poem by Oleksander Oles
Performed by
Benjamin Butterfield, tenor; Michael Colvin, tenor; Albert Krywolt, Piano and Douglas Stuart, flute
Олександер Олесь
Літній вечір… Гори в млі…
В золоті вершини…
А під ними ллється десь пісня України.
Гасне вечір… сон обняв гори і долини…
А між горами літає пісня України.
Ніч давно… Заснуло все… Тільки море плине
та щебече понад ним пісня України.
Чаруюча картина замріяної природи. Флейта додає особливої легкості та прозорості до музики цього безхмарного, мирного твору. Остання строфа вірша Олеся містить приховане посилання на знаменитий Шевченковий “Садок вишневий коло хати”. Лисенко підхоплює натяк і цитує мелодичні мотиви з власного раннього солоспіву на той же вірш Шевченка.
Oleksander Oles
Translation: Maxim Tarnawsky and Uliana Pasicznyk
A summer evening… mountains in a mist…
Peaks covered in gold.
Below them somewhere flows the song of Ukraine.
The evening fades… Sleep has embraced the
mountains and valleys.
Among the mountains flies the song of Ukraine.
Night fell long ago… Everything is asleep…
Only the sea flows And above it chirps the song of Ukraine
The flute adds a peculiar airiness and transparency to the music of this serene, peaceful song portraying the charming tranquillity of nature. The last verse of Oles’ poem contains a hidden reference to Shevchenko’s iconic “The Cherry Orchard.” Lysenko espouses the hint and quotes the melodic motifs from his own earlier song
Mykola Lysenko (1842-1912)
Mykola Lysenko (1842 - 1912) is the father of modern Ukrainian classical music. His prolific life’s work laid the foundation for the further development and expansion of Ukrainian musical culture. He influenced a large group of Ukrainian composers, including Stetsenko, Stepovyi, Leontovych, Koshyts, and Liudkevych. A compilation of Lysenko’s works in 22 volumes was published in Kyiv in 1950–59.
Lysenko was a composer, ethnomusicologist, pianist, and conductor. He studied at the Kharkiv and Kyiv universities and, later, at the Leipzig Conservatory under Reinicke and Richter (1867–69). From 1874 to 1876 he studied orchestration under Rimsky-Korsakov in St. Petersburg. In 1904, he founded his own School of Music and Drama in Kyiv.
The list of Lysenko’s operatic compositions include Black Sea Cossacks (1872); three operas based on the works of the Ukrainian writer Mykola Hohol – Christmas Night (1873–82),
The Drowned Maiden (1883) and Taras Bulba (1890); and the operettas Natalka from Poltava (1889) and Aeneas (1911). Himself a well-known pianist, Lysenko composed a piano sonata, two rhapsodies, a suite, a scherzo and a rondo, as well as an abundance of smaller pieces, including songs without words, nocturnes, waltzes and polonaises. He also wrote a number of works for strings. Of the Ukrainian composers, Lysenko was the most committed to the art song genre. Lysenko’s 133 art songs (lirychni pisni in Ukrainian) relate a wonderfully descriptive and passionate story of 19th- and early 20th-century European life.
The Ukrainian Art Song Project has been bringing Ukraine's musical treasures to light since 2004. With your support, we will continue to bring Ukraine's finest composers and their masterpieces to the world stage, where they belong.
Проєкт "Українськa Мистецькa Пісня" поширює найкращі зразки української музики з 2004 року. З Вашою підтримкою ми продовжимо презентувати найкращих українських композиторів та їх шедеври, які належать до світової музичної спадщини.
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